The Mick. The Mickster. The mcmikster. Mr. Mxyzkptlk. Sir Mick of Roo. The King. The Koenig. Mr. Married to many hotties and enslaved by none. Mr. Show Business if he ever existed. Ladies and Gentlemen, arrive on one knee with neck bent and welcome.... Mr. Mickey Rooney and may god bless his lovely soul.

I was set up across from the Mick at Dragon*Con a few years back. Mickey Jr. came over to say he was a big Cartoon Network fan and would my wife and I like to meet his dad. Dad had been glaring at us from across the aisle all day anyway, so I thought "Sure, Let's do it". Jr. gave us a big intro to Mick and we stepped up... though as we extended our hands he cut us both off with a harsh "THANKYOUGOODBYE!!"(yep - he said it twice) and went back to what he was doing below the table. Jr. smiled and shrugged (sure he's used to it) and we went back and sat down. The glaring continued the rest of the weekend.

CMC- I was at that very DragonCon, set up selling shirts in that very exhibition hall. It was all very tragic! I was wandering the aisles, and ran across Mr. Rooney. He was infinitely old, and I had the suspicion that he was kept in cold-sleep between shows. I came away feeling that I had met a dried-apple homunculus.